Sounds About Right: My Favorite Podcasts

When I write a personal rendition of My Favorite Things, podcasts will inevitably be on the list. I listen to them while walking to class, cooking, washing dishes, solving Rubik’s cubes…you get the idea. When executed well, they can transport you to a new world, make you think deeply about a novel idea, or even change your perspective on a topic you thought you knew all about. My feed ranges from economics to theology to design, so you’ll probably find something worth listening to on the list.

Tools of the Trade

Before I dig into the actual podcasts, let’s talk podcast players. This can make or break your entire listening experience, so I suggest you choose wisely. I’ve used two apps in my podcast-listening career, and here are my thoughts.

Apple Podcasts

If you’ve got an iPhone, this gets the job done. It does the basics well: subscribe, listen, repeat.

Pros

  • Search on Apple Podcasts is incredibly powerful. You can browse for new shows easily, see the guests on an episode (and very handily, what other podcasts they’ve appeared in), and even search for topics within the audio. Audio search is still in beta and I believe guest listings are at the behest of the podcast publisher, but still useful.
  • Video support. Some podcasts will very rarely do video specials. Not many players are built to handle it, but Apple Podcasts does.
  • Explicit playback tagging. Depending on how you feel about explicit content, this could be very handy. This ties in directly to your content playback settings for the phone as a whole, so if you’ve designated explicit content as off-limits, Apple Podcasts will just grey the episode out. If you don’t have those settings enabled, you will at the very least see a little “E” tag by the episode title.
  • iTunes U integration. If you’re already on the platform, Apple Podcasts steps right in sync. If not, this doesn’t apply to you.

Cons

  • The user interface. Let’s start at the bottom. Why is there a “Listen Now” and a “Library” tab? Couldn’t all my episodes be listed in one neat, orderly place? Why does the Library tab separate out Downloaded Episodes (this is a design choice that carries over into the Music app as well, and I don’t like it.)
  • Tap an episode to play. There were so many times I scrolled through a podcast’s feed only for a finger to hold too long on the screen and start playing a random episode. This makes sense for a music library, but podcasts aren’t music. Plus, you’ve probably listened to the music in your collection and know what you’re getting into. On the other hand, you’re probably listening to a podcast episode for the first and only time. Episodes typically have several paragraphs of show notes that you’d probably want to glance through. If you think I’m getting worked up about this unnecessarily, consider this. If you’re browsing a streaming service for movies online and you tap just the cover image, would you rather start playing the movie immediately, or read more details first? I prefer the latter.
  • Everything I don’t like about Apple Podcasts is purely due to design. And when something isn’t designed well, it loses much of its functional value. Back in the day, a 4-year-old could pick up an iPhone and do anything simply because the interface was designed so well. Now, I feel like I’m digging through features which might be useful but are keeping me from what I want to do – listen to podcasts.

Overcast

And that’s when I switched to Overcast. This is, in my mind, the gold standard of podcast players and I’ve used it exclusively since March 2019.

Pros

  • One main home screen. Seriously, the rest of the app could be nigh unusable and I would probably still use it for this reason. The whole point of a podcast player is the podcasts. Overcast puts your feed front and center.
  • Individual podcast feed design. Once you’ve selected a podcast, the episodes are right there. You know exactly which ones you’ve played, which ones are downloaded, which ones are streaming. You don’t need a separate tab for downloaded content. (cough Apple Podcasts cough)
  • Tapping an episode doesn’t autoplay. This comes with a caveat: you have to set this up first. On the plus side, it’s a single switch to flip. Painless and easy. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.
  • Playback features. None of these are required, but they make the experience so much better. Voice Boost does exactly what the package says. Smart Speed shortens silences (sounds dumb, but it’s eliminated 22 hours of dead space in the episodes I’ve listened to in the past 8 months). Smart Seek adjust rewind/fast-forward to fall between words rather than exactly where you skipped to.
  • I can share with all my friends! I could never share episodes from Apple Podcasts with non-Apple friends, which is terrible. Overcast has share links that go to a webpage instead, where users can choose to play in-browser or in a different podcast app of choice.

Cons

  • My phone doesn’t auto-lock when the app is active. I don’t know if this is a bug or a design choice, but I’ll start playing an episode, start cooking, and come back 30 minutes later to find my screen was on the whole time.
  • No explicit playback tags. Apple Podcasts wins this round, but I don’t listen to podcasts that feature this kind of language anyway. As a result, if there is an outlier episode where a guest drops a swear word or two, the hosts either a) censor it or b) warn you up front.
  • No video support. This isn’t a dealbreaker; most podcasts don’t do video. If they do, it’s likely they also have a separate feed on YouTube, FaceBook, Vimeo, or another platform.
  • Apple’s search is far superior to Overcast’s. But I typically rely on other sources to recommend new shows, so I don’t mind too much.

All that being said, I should note that Overcast has a development team of…one. That’s it. One man, Marco Arment, singlehandedly created the best podcast player available. Any bugs are slowly but surely being ironed out and new features are still being added. Overcast is a win for the little guy, and I am all for the little guy. Check it out here. (For the record, this isn’t an ad. I just really, really like Overcast!)

My Favorite Podcasts

I thought about ranking these shows but quickly realized I’d never actually finish writing this article if I did that. So these shows are presented alphabetically, along with a selection of specific episodes I enjoyed.

I should note that I don’t listen to every episode of these shows. There are many whose message I’ve disagreed with and many that I stop listening to mere seconds in. But at the end of the day, I still respect the creators for the work they put into their craft.

13 Minutes to the Moon

A chill-inducing, jaw-dropping retelling of the final approach of the Apollo 11 mission. Released in the weeks leading up to the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, 13 Minutes to the Moon tells you the stories behind THE story.

Listen to This:

  • Kids in control: The kids who made the moon landing possible.
  • The 13 minutes: The actual CapCom feed from the final minutes of the July 20, 1969 landing. You should only listen to this if you’ve heard the other 10 episodes first.

99% Invisible

The single greatest podcast on design. Don’t care about design? Listen to 99PI anyway. You will certainly care about design. They talk about everything from Los Angeles road signage to Spanish lotteries to British nautical reports to Canadian basketball jerseys to beekeeping. This is easily one of my all-time favorites and I can’t say enough good things about it.

Listen to This:

  • New Jersey: The beauty of the Brazilian soccer jersey, and how its design transcended even international borders.
  • In the Same Ballpark: I don’t even like baseball, but this episode on stadium design is fascinating.
  • La Sagrada Familia: The story of an architect’s unfinished Gothic cathedral…from the 20th century.

Between the Grooves

A podcast discussing the Christian music industry and interviewing Christian artists. A niche genre, perhaps, but a fantastic listen nonetheless.

Listen to This:

The Bible Project

A Bible nerd and a storyteller discuss the greatest book ever written. TBP makes incredible videos walking you through different books of the Bible, themes, and central ideas that make the Bible “a unified story that leads to Jesus.” The podcast is the collection of discussions that eventually culminated in these videos. If you were raised in the church, they have an uncanny knack for revealing new truths in texts you’ve read a million times before. If you’ve never read the Bible before, they walk through the Bible at a level anyone can understand. If I could only listen to one Bible-focused podcast for the rest of my life, it would probably be this one.

Listen to This:

Kris Vallotton

This guy is nuts. Kris communicates the Bible like no one else I know. He’s funny, thought-provoking, and convicts deeply. I re-listen to these episodes regularly.

Listen to This:

  • Secrets to a Great Marriage: Are you married? Listen to this. Are you unmarried? Listen to this. I played this one 3 times over within 24 hours of hearing it.

the memory palace

Some of the best short stories about history you’ll never find in a textbook, committed to audio. Nate DiMeo brings figures from the past into real life like no one else. There’s a reason these episodes run 10-15 minutes – there would be no way to process everything you just heard if it went any longer.

Listen to This:

–If You Have to be a Floor: the memory palace reveals nothing but credits in its show notes, so I will honor that tradition here. All I can say is that you must hear this.

Passion City Church/Passion City Church DC

Sermons from the ATL and Washington D.C. Louie Giglio has been around for a while, spearheading the Passion Conference movement, and Ben Stuart, one of my favorite communicators, is carrying the torch in the nation’s capital.

Listen to This:

  • The Restoration of Peter: A powerful look at the betrayal and redemption of one of the most vocal disciples in the gospels. Ben Stuart shows us the Peter inside us all.
  • The Sovereignty of God in the Chaos of Christmas: The greatest Christmas message ever told. I listen to this at least annually (mostly during the holidays, but I’ve been known to play it in May as well). Louie Giglio deconstructs the context of the Christmas story in a way you’ve never heard before but desperately need in your life.

Planet Money

Funny, interesting stories on the economy in America and beyond. If you’ve never cared about helium harvesting or Venmo refunds, now you will!

Listen to This:

The Sleeping At Last Podcast

Have you ever listened to a song and wondered, “How did they make that?” Ryan O’Neal answers all of those questions about the music he produces under the name Sleeping At Last. I’ve always loved this concept for a podcast and Ryan knocks it out of the park. Updates are spotty because of the nature of music production, but man, the wait is worth it.

Listen to This:

  • August 21, 2017: Total Solar Eclipse: Ryan O’Neal is just as much of a space nerd as I am and has been making music dedicated to various astronomical events. In this one, he scores the first solar eclipse over the United States in almost 40 years. An amazing behind-the-scenes look that leaves you with a deep appreciation for artists and the heart they pour into their art.

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Named after the upper limit of the human hearing range, 20K tells the stories of the sounds we hear. Yes, it’s very meta, but it’s so well done.

Listen to This:

  • Space: Yet another podcast about space. Are you surprised? But wait, there’s no sound in space…or is there?
  • Sonic Seasoning: A surprising look at the connection between sound and taste. You should probably listen to this one with some chocolate handy.
  • Ehh… What’s Up, Doc?: Part one of two on Mel Blanc, the voice behind the most beloved cartoons of the 20th century.
  • That’s All Folks!: Mel Blanc was the voice behind Bugs, Daffy, and more. This is second of two parts on his life and work.

Conclusion

That’s a lot of audio. I don’t expect anyone (besides myself) to listen to all of these. But if you do listen to any of these episodes, please reach out to me and tell me what you think! Did you like it? Hate it? I want to hear it all. And I love discovering great new shows, so send me your recommendations as well!

With my head in the stars,
Joshua